Deck sign



H. R. OWEN July 10, 1951 DECK SIGN Filed July 17, 1948 Patented July 10, 1951 DECK SIGN Harold R. Owen, Playa del Rey, Calif., assignor to Electrical Products Corporation, Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation of California Application July 17, 1948, Serial No. 39,240

4 Claims. 1

This invention relates generally to the illuminated sign art and particularly to an electric sign of the so-called deck type wherein the structure is adapted for horizontal mounting and supports a line of sign characters along its front edge, and which has a background surface which reflects light projected thereagainst by luminescent or other gaseous tubing located within the deck sign structure and concealed from view. When a sign of this character is lighted, the sign characters appear as dark forms which are silhouetted against the lighted background, the front edge of the sign usually appearing as a dark shadow beneath the line of characters.

Signs of this general character are employed I quite extensively as marquees or canopies over the entrances of theatres, hotels, stores, etc., and are regarded with much favor since they are economical to operate and lend themselves to a large variety of designs. Moreover, the sharpness or boldness of the effects produced by their silhouetted sign characters, which may be of various sizes, is well recognized. Such deck signs are usually constructed in the form of elongated boxes or troughs, and the sign characters are soldered, bolted, or otherwise secured to the top edge of the front longitudinal member of the structure, the characters appearing as silhouettes against the background which is supported at the inner or back side of the sign structure or against the wall of the building which derives light from the electric tubes disposed within the trough.

It is well known that, when the sign characters are mounted directly upon the upper edge of the trough, the bottom portions of the characters appear to blend into the shadow of the trough, and this creates the illusion that the display is formed in a single strip with the trough forming the base of the strip so that the bottom portions of the characters are not well defined. While this deficiency has been well recognized, it has been regarded by most sign manufacturers and designers as an insurmountable problem since it was not readily apparent how the sign characters could be made to stand free of the sign structure so as to produce a line of light therebetween. However, in an eifort to alleviate this condition, it has been proposed to interpose a light-permeable strip of glass or plastic material of a transparent or translucent nature to serve as a window through which the light reflected by the background can pass. By this provision the bottom edges of the letters or other sign characters are well defined by the narrow strip of light, and the characters appear to be floating above the trough. While such an arrangement of parts produces the desired lighting eifect, it will be apparent that such strips of glass or plastic material are relatively expensive since they must be drilled at spaced intervals to receive the character-attaching bolts, or grooved or otherwise formed with means for securing them in place. For this reason, the use of such light-permeable bars has not been universally adopted, and the lighting problem discussed above continues.

It is an important object of this invention to provide an electric sign of the so-called deck type which employs sign characters adapted to be silhouetted against a lighted background and which are mounted above the upper edge of the sign structure by means having a light-reflecting surface. The character-mounting means is disposed between the sign structure and the characters and is so formed that it functions to deiiect light, transmitted from the light source within the structure, outwardly in a generally horizontal direction so as to create the illusion that the characters are detached or, in other words, suspended above the structure, and this is another important object of the present invention.

Another object is to provide a light-reflecting member, of the type referred to, which may be incorporated in signs during their manufacture or applied to existing signs without altering the structure thereof.

Another object is to provide a sign, of the type referred to, which is composed of a plurality of components capable of being readily attached, one to another, in side-by-side or end-to-end relationship so as to build up the deck to any desired size and contour. It is a related object to provide components Iwhich themselves constitute structural elementspossessing great strength so that units composed of a series of such components are capable of sustaining their own weight without the use of additional bracing means. This object is best attained by constructing the individual components as cast panels, each panel having side and end flanges adapted to abut against the corresponding flanges of adjacent panels and to be bolted or otherwise secured thereto.

Further objects of the invention will be apparent from the following specification and from the drawing, which is intended for the purposes of illustration only, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective View of a portion of a deck sign structure embodying the present improvements; and

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view through the sign, taken on line 2-2 of Fig. l.

Referring to the drawing in detail, the sign structure 4 illustrated therein is of the deck type, that is, of the character adapted to be mounted againstfthe front wall 5 of a building structure and to project outwardly therefrom in a generally horizontal position so as to serve as a canopy or marquee.

The sign structure 4 includes a rear wall, a front wall 1, end Walls 8, and a bottom wall 9.

a plate secured to the lower flanges l I and I6 of The rear wall consists of a series of rectangular The panels lll, which l may have their central portions cut out in order l to lighten their weight, may 'be made invarious ways, but I prefer to make them as. metal castings so as to greatly simplify and reduce the cost of manufacture thereof lwhile providing great strength and rigidity. The vertical flanges l2 have aligned holes through which bolts or other fastening means i3 may pass to secure adjoining panels in side-by-side abutting relationship as shown in Fig.-1. Any suitable number of the panels le may be thus joined to form the rear wall 6, the number of panels used depending upon the desired length of the deck sign to be erected. It is to be particularly noted that each panel lil is `a structural unit in itself, and for this reason the rear wall E is self-sustaining and requires no bracing means other than its integral flanges Il and l2.

The front wall 'I is likewise composed of a plurality of panels l5 which have upper and lower flanges i6 and vertical iianges il, the latter flanges of adjoining panels being bolted together toform the front wall which 'is also self-sustaining. The cast panels i5 are herein shown as comprising merely plane rectangular elements, but it will be apparent that they may take other forms, and their front faces may be ribbed, grooved, or otherwise embellished with attractive designs to enhance the appearance 'of the sign. In some instances, it is desirable to provide the front .panels .I 5'with letters or other sign characters, such a character being indicated at I8 in Fig. i. While the characters may be `applied to the panels in any suitable manner, as, for example, by an enam'eling process, vit may be desirable to `prov-ide'characters which arecapable of being illuminated, and in this case the-panels have cutout portions representing the characters, translucent glass (not shown) being inserted in the cut-out portions and through which light can be projected in the manner to be later explained.

The front wall 'i of the sign structure is supported from the back wall 6 by means of connecting members or beams which are of substantially I cross section and which have their upper .and lower flanges 2l and 22 joined to the corresponding upper and lower iianges of both the rear and front walls 6 and 'i as indicated at 23. The beams 2i! are cut away as shown `at 24 to provide openings through which the illuminating tubes, to be presently described, are adapted to extend lengthwise Within the sign.

The end walls 8 may consist of single panels 25 or may be built up from a series of smaller panels similar to those used in the front wall '1, in either case, the vertical flanges 26 at the ends of the Wall 8 being connected at 21 to the endmost vertical vflanges Il of the front wall '1.

The. Si??? Silutme 4 es, thus far described.

the rear and front walls.

Extending lengthwise within the sign structure 4 and passing through the openings 2d of the `connecting members 2l]v are luminescent or other electric illuminating tubes 30. The tubes 3? are supported by suitable clips 3|, mounted on the members 2c, and their bent terminal portions 32 extend into a terminal box 33 where their electrodes are connected to suitable contact elements forming part of an electrical circuit for energizing the tubes, such parts being well known and therefore not shown in the drawing or described in detail. y

In signs oi' this type, in which letters or other sign characters are to appear as silhouettes, the light emanating from the electric tubes is projected onto a suitable background which, in turn, rent-.cts the light rays forwardly toward the front of the sign to cause them to define the characters. While the front wall of the building might -be utilized as the background, prefer to provide a separate background 35 which is supported by and provides, in effect, an upward extension of the rear wall E of the sign structure. The background 35 preferably consists of a plurality of rectangular cast metal panels 36 each having rearwardly extending flanges 3'! capable of being bolted to similar flanges of adjacent panels to build up a background of suitable size. have found that an excellent diffusion of the light over the entire frontal area of the background is produced if the front surfaces of Vthe panels are provided with crossing grooves to form, in effeet, raised convex pillows indicated at 38.

The sign characters it may take various forms and be of any suitable size. The present drawing shows but one of such characters d, but it will be apparent that any desired number-of these can be employed, the disclosed character being shown as in the form of a letter E by Way of example. The character may be fabrica-ted from sheet metal or cast from any Vsuitable inateria-1 in which case it may have any open back as shown Vin Fig. 2.

In theY present invention, -means are provided for supporting the sign characters di) in spaced relation to the upper edge Vof `the lfront wall l' of the structure This supporting means includes brackets d2 which are bolted to certain of the vertical anges H -of 'the front Wall l and which have upstanding .portions d3 provided with horizontal ledges Vor rests dll. '7E-he supporting means also includes a bar or be'am 45 which has an ear i6 adapted to be bolted to 'the upper surface of the ledges t4., and 'also provided with a concave lower surface 41. The 'sign Ycharacters 1li) rest directly upon the top of the Abeam 45 and may be secured inV position -by means -o'f clamps 13 bolted to the beam and having portions engageable with the lower flanged poit'ions of the characters.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that, when the sign is applied to use, light rays emanatingfrom the energized electric lilluminating tubes 30 are projected upon the background 35 which diffuses the same so as to produce a soft light area at the rear of the sign characters to cause the latter to be silhouetted thereagainst. The characters thus appear as shadows against the background surface which may be suitably colored to produce a pleasing lighting effect.

By means of the supporting means 42, 45, the sign characters 40 are firmly supported above the upper edge of the front wall 1, and, due to the position of the illuminating tubes below the beam 45, a portion of the light transmitted by the tubes is projected onto the longitudinally extending concave surface il and the rays of light bent thereby and reflected forwardly in a generally horizontal direction. It is thus apparent that a strip or band of light is produced between the lower portions of the characters 4D and the upper edge of the front Wall l so that the illusion of the characters being suspended in space above the sign structure is created. In this manner, the confusion of the character shadows with the structure shadow, which usually exists when the characters are attached directly to the sign structure, is entirely avoided. Thus, the legibility of the sign is greatly im- Iproved, and its appearance is eectively enhanced. This objective is attained by the use of the character-supporting means which serves to reflect the band of light necessary to produce the desired illusion, and it is to be particularly noted that the result is obtained without sacricing adequate support of the sign characters.

While I have herein shown and described the improved illuminated sign as embodied in a preferred form of construction, by way of example, it will be obvious that various changes and modifications might be made in the structure without departing from the spirit of the invention. Consequently, I wish to be afforded the full scope of the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. An illuminated sign, comprising: a troughm like frame adapted to be mounted against a vertical support and having a front wall; a source of light within said frame adapted to project light onto a background surface spaced rearwardly of said source of light; at least one sign character; and supporting means carried by said frame for supporting said character in spaced relation to said front wall, said sign character being silhouetted against said illuminated background, said supporting means being provided with a light-reflecting surface disposed between said front wall and said character adapted to reflect light transmitted by said light source so as to provide a band of light between said frame and said character.

2. An illuminated sign as defined in claim 1, wherein said light reflecting surface is curved.

3. An illuminated sign, comprising: a troughlike frame adapted to be mounted against a vertical support and having a front wall; a source of light Within said frame adapted to project light into a background surface spaced rearwardly of said source of light; at least one sign character; and supporting means carried by said frame rearwardly of said front wall for supporting said character in spaced relation to said' front wall, said sign character being silhouetted against said illuminated background, said supporting means being provided with a light-reecting surface disposed between said front wall and said character adapted to reflect light transmitted by said light source so as to provide a band of light between said frame and said character.

4. An illuminated sign as defined in claim 3 wherein said light reecting surface is curved. HAROLD R. OWEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,843,844 Slough Feb. 2, 1932 1,943,281 Barclay et al Jan. 16, 1934 1,956,185 Wiltshire Dec. 31, 1935 2,025,818 Leigh Dec. 31, 1935 2,175,276 Mutti Oct. 10, 1939 2,254,315 Rice Sept. 2, 1941 2,341,964 Wagner et al. Feb. 15, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 448,378 Great Britain June 8, 1936 

